Outdoor floodlights have been known for many years. Some are designed for mounting near the ground, on the ground or even underground. Others are designed for mounting at a height, as on the side of a building or on a pole. In both types of apparatus, it is common to provide a mechanism in the mounting whereby the direction of the light may be adjusted, at least to a limited degree. A common manner in which such is accomplished is by providing a connection between the light fixture and a fixed mounting therefor, according to which the fixture may be moved relative to the mounting and then secured against motion.
In mountings of this type, it is common for the available range of motion of the fixture to be rather limited. One attempt to expand the range of adjustment has involved the use of a ball captured between two sheet metal parts. Each of the sheet metal parts has a hole of a diameter smaller than the diameter of the ball and in which the ball rests. By forcing the plates toward each other, as by the use of bolts or the like, one may cause the ball to be gripped and held in position. However, even with this type of mounting the available range of motion is too limited.
Another aspect of outdoor floodlights pertains to those mounted proximate the ground, as on a spike or the like fixed in the ground. When such equipment has been provided for sale to and installation by the general consumer, purchasers have often encountered difficulty in the proper technique of laying out and installing a plurality of lights interconnected by a power cord. The difficulty arises from the facts that such lights have historically being designed for making an electrical connection between the cable and the housing at a location several inches above the ground. Because the cable must extend upwardly to the housing and then back down at each of the several fixtures, the length of cable needed may be significantly longer than the length of the entire array of fixtures as measured along the ground. Consumers tend not to account for this difference in planning and implementing the initial stages of installation. For example, a consumer who connects the cable to each light fixture in advance of mounting any of the equipment in the ground may discover that the lights may not be spaced apart the distances that have been intended. Other improper methods of installation exist that can lead to a similar difficulty. A lighting fixture is needed that is effective in avoiding such difficulty.
According to yet an additional aspect of floodlights, it has been known to provide a two-part housing in which the lamp is fixed to the rear housing, the reflector is mounted on the front housing, and the front and rear housings are mated with screw threads or the like for purposes of providing adjustability. In particular, twisting the front housing with respect to the rear housing moves the reflector forwardly and rearwardly with respect to the lamp, thereby changing the light pattern cast by the floodlight.
Such lights typically are provided with lenses mounted to the front housing and having an array of square or rectangular focusing elements distributed over a surface thereof. In such cases, the aspect ratio of the sides of the focusing elements determines the aspect ratio of the shape of the beam that is cast by the fixture as a whole. The result is that, when the front housing is rotated so as to reposition the reflector, the lens is rotated through the same angle, thereby causing the parallel tops and sides of the beam to move out of alignment with the local vertical. Accordingly, additional mechanism must be provided in the front housing to allow one to reposition the lens with respect to the front housing after the front housing has been twisted in accord with the previous paragraph. A simpler, less expensive way of adjusting the beam is needed.